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unveils cobalt-free battery. What does this mean for the trajectory of cathode technology and future of cobalt in batteries?","svolt-unveils-new-cobalt-free-battery-what-does-this-mean-for-trajectory-of-cathode-technology-and-the-future-of-cobalt-in-batteries","article/svolt-unveils-new-cobalt-free-battery-what-does-this-mean-for-trajectory-of-cathode-technology-and-the-future-of-cobalt-in-batteries",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":667,"featured":50,"reporter":668,"_editable":672,"component":673,"seo_title":553,"categories":674,"visibility":678,"author_company":49,"featured_image":679,"seo_description":667,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":684,"formattedArticleDate":685},"c0ffd728-a2cf-47d9-a0e4-e765c08aa47e","2020-05-22 00:00",[],[561],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":564},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":565,"image":566,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":567},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":571,"content":572},"doc",[573,580,585,592,597,602,607,612,617,622,627,632,637,642,647,652,657,662],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":576},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[577],{"text":578,"type":579},"This week Chinese battery producer SVOLT unveiled a new cobalt-free lithium ion battery. The Great Wall Motors spin-out has received plenty of attention for its nickel manganese oxide (NMx) cathode, which the company promises to be energy dense, long-lasting and stable at high temperatures — all cobalt-free. However, there are a number of technical challenges that the Tier 2 battery manufacturer will face on the path to commercialisation.","text",{"type":574,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":579},"With so much interest surrounding SVOLT’s announcement, what does it actually mean for cobalt and cathode technology?",{"type":586,"attrs":587,"content":589},"heading",{"level":588,"textAlign":49},4,[590],{"text":591,"type":579},"Cobalt under the microscope",{"type":574,"attrs":593,"content":594},{"textAlign":49},[595],{"text":596,"type":579},"Firstly, it’s important to understand cobalt plays two critical roles in a lithium ion battery cell: to increase the battery’s life cycle and help to maintain thermal stability. There are already cathode technologies which work well without cobalt —namely lithium iron phosphate (LFP) — but this is at the expense of lower energy density.",{"type":574,"attrs":598,"content":599},{"textAlign":49},[600],{"text":601,"type":579},"While cobalt plays a critical role in the battery, since around 2007 it has been under scrutiny from electric vehicle (EV) producers and battery makers for sustainability and cost concerns — particularly as its price rose during 2016-2018.",{"type":574,"attrs":603,"content":604},{"textAlign":49},[605],{"text":606,"type":579},"The focus of many automakers has been to reduce the use of cobalt at a cell level through increasing the nickel content in NCM and NCA cathodes (at the expense of cobalt). Alongside reducing cobalt exposure, increasing the nickel content brings another benefit of increased energy density, which leads to a longer driving range in an EV.",{"type":586,"attrs":608,"content":609},{"level":588,"textAlign":49},[610],{"text":611,"type":579},"The challenges facing SVOLT",{"type":574,"attrs":613,"content":614},{"textAlign":49},[615],{"text":616,"type":579},"While SVOLT’s latest technology offers a new cobalt-free alternative, Benchmark expects LFP to remain the predominant cobalt-free cathode of choice for passenger vehicles in the near-term, predominantly for shorter range, lower cost vehicles in China. This is largely due to lower input costs and existing production infrastructure. Having said that, SVOLT’s new NMx cell is promising and if it performs close to the claims of the company it will likely gather further attention, but the technological challenge of launching by July 2021 shouldn’t be understated and recent history demonstrates this.",{"type":574,"attrs":618,"content":619},{"textAlign":49},[620],{"text":621,"type":579},"As the market looked to reduce cobalt in EV cathode technology and move to NCM 811 the path has been anything but smooth. Both LG Chem and SK Innovation claimed in 2017 that they would be launching a commercial NCM 811 cell for the EV market in 2018. We are now in 2020 and NCM 811 is only going into EVs in a limited amount of cases now.",{"type":574,"attrs":623,"content":624},{"textAlign":49},[625],{"text":626,"type":579},"The route to commercialisation follows a lengthy qualification process with each automaker. This can be a multiyear process, even for a different blend of existing technology as is the case with NCM 811. For SVOLT a lengthier qualification process can be expected as the technology remains commercially unproven. As a new supplier, with an entirely new product, the Tier 2 cell producer will also face a longer qualification process, although this process would likely be shorter for the domestic Chinese market.",{"type":574,"attrs":628,"content":629},{"textAlign":49},[630],{"text":631,"type":579},"It is also important to consider the path automakers are following — western automakers’ attention and capital has largely been, and continues to be, focused on NCM technology.",{"type":574,"attrs":633,"content":634},{"textAlign":49},[635],{"text":636,"type":579},"To date we have yet to see cobalt-free cathode technology on automakers technology pathways —except for LFP, which Tesla will be using in its standard range Chinese Model 3.",{"type":574,"attrs":638,"content":639},{"textAlign":49},[640],{"text":641,"type":579},"While lowering cobalt has been a concern for electric vehicle makers, OEMs’ sensitivity to cobalt is now much lower than it was during 2016-2018 — with Benchmark Minerals Cobalt Sulphate Price (EXW China) down 72.6% since April 2018 to April 2020. However, if cobalt prices begin to increase automakers will likely accelerate their plans to look at new cathode technology.",{"type":586,"attrs":643,"content":644},{"level":588,"textAlign":49},[645],{"text":646,"type":579},"Benchmark Minerals’ view",{"type":574,"attrs":648,"content":649},{"textAlign":49},[650],{"text":651,"type":579},"Cobalt-free cathode technology will continue to play a role in the market and take some share from NCM technologies, but that cobalt-free technology will be focused on LFP in short-range and heavy-duty vehicles in the near-to-medium-term.",{"type":574,"attrs":653,"content":654},{"textAlign":49},[655],{"text":656,"type":579},"SVOLT’s cathode is promising but there are a number of challenges on the road to commercialisation, and although it will likely receive attention from automakers, the technical challenges, the qualification process, and automakers’ cathode technology trajectory make for a challenging route to widespread adoption.",{"type":574,"attrs":658,"content":659},{"textAlign":49},[660],{"text":661,"type":579},"We are yet to see if these new higher energy density cathodes like NMx can meet the standards demanded by the global auto industry, but even if the rollout is successful it will not spell the end for cobalt in batteries.",{"type":574,"attrs":663,"content":664},{"textAlign":49},[665],{"text":666,"type":579},"For many automakers, their pathways have already been set.  The turning of a multinational OEM is too wide to see any deviation from this course — in the medium term at least.","This week Chinese battery producer SVOLT unveiled a new cobalt-free lithium ion battery. The Great Wall Motors spin-out has received plenty of attention for its nickel manganese oxide (NMx) cathode, which the company promises to be energy dense, long-lasting and stable at high temperatures — all cobalt-free. However, there are a number of technical challenges […]",[669],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":670},{"job_title":565,"image":671,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},{"filename":567},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"c0ffd728-a2cf-47d9-a0e4-e765c08aa47e\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[675],{"slug":676,"name":677},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":680,"name":680,"focus":680,"title":680,"source":680,"filename":681,"copyright":680,"fieldtype":682,"meta_data":683,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/f2587cdb67/bm-svolt.jpg","asset",{"alt":680,"title":680,"source":680,"copyright":680},"May 22, 2020","22nd May 2020",[],[],1792756397715]